VA Creeper

What a glorious Memorial Day weekend! The SigO and I headed down to Abington, VA to meet up with friends for a ride down the Virgina Creeper.

On the way downwe stopped at one of my absolute favorite winery's - Valhalla. Talk about a magnificent view. I just wish we had been a little more prepared. They had live music and it was a gorgeous day - it would have been perfect for a picnic. Next time...

We arrived in Abington at a decent hour and got up the next day to go for our ride.

The creeper is such a lovely trail, with fabulous trestles that wind through the treetops, over waterfalls and rivers and alongside the Whitetop Laurel Creek. The first 10 miles is all downhill, so no effort involved. After that, it's still mostly flat with a tiny little incline...for the last 7 miles. Still, it's a very pleasant, easy 34 mile ride.

Saturday night we all trooped over to the Barter Theater and watched a play about Jimmy Rogers. Fun times. Good music. Sad play.

We had originally planned on a ride alongside the New River on Sunday, but my backside was singing to me, so we opted out of that one.

Of course, one of the best side effects of long trips is all the knitting I get to do on the trip. Still working on my little pink camisole, but I was able to rip apart my very first top and re-seam it. Some might think that's cheating...it being my first top and all, it should be a memento of my rough beginnings, but the truth is, the knitting is fine...but I wouldn't wear it because I was clueless as to what I was doing when I seamed it. Now that it's all re-done, it's completely wearable (as I'm doing right now)

Well - OK - obviously I'm not wearing it in the picture. See, I know how you wankers think!! And now I know you're thinking "Wankers? What the...", but that's what happens after I watch movies like Bend It Like Beckham - get past it.

Slacking off again

I meant to blog about my wonderful Birthday last week, and am just now getting around to it.

First, the SigO spoiled me rotten. Tons of great presents, including a Kindle, BowFlex dumbbells, P90X, and a Zumba DVD set. No, he's not trying to tell me something - this is what I asked for.

If you're not already green with envy, here's the kicker...

We went to the Inn at Little Washington Saturday night for dinner. Every wonderful thing you've heard about it is an under statement!

We had:

Appetizers:

Both: A Melange of Spicy big Eye Tuna with Mango, Avocado, Crispy Shallots and Sake-Yuzu Sorbet (This was my favorite)

Second Course:

Me: A Marriage of Hot and Cold Foie Gras with Ice Wine Jelly and House Made Quince Preserves

SigO: Pecan-Crusted Soft Shell Crab Tempura with Italian Mustard Fruit and Marinated Cabbage Slaw (this was his favorite)

Main Course:

Me: Four Story Hill Farm Veal Sweetbreads on Pappardelle Pasta with Local Morels, Asparagus and Virginia Country Ham

SigO: Veal Parmesan Reincarnated: Prosciutto Wrapped, Pan Roasted Loin of Pennsylvania Veal with Spinach Raviolini and Parmesan Broth

Dessert:

Me: Southern Butter Pecan Ice Cream Sandwich with Hot Caramel Sauce

Him: A Chocolate Mint Fantasy: Mint Ice Cream Festooned with Chocolate Streamers (it looked like an elaborate sculpture)

Of course, we paired this with some nice wines. I was just a touch typsy when I came out (he drove - natch), so I was entranced with everything. The sky was spectacular and I was taking pictures like crazy. He kept telling me I was going to laugh at myself when I saw them the next day, but look at what I got:

But of course, he had to be right about a few of them:

Slip Sliding Away

The traveling sock went back-country camping this weekend.

You should know that my traveling sock sees a lot less than the Yarn Harlot's traveling sock. Hers goes with her on long flights all over the world and gets to meet lots of fellow knitters at book signing events, etc.

Mine typically only goes with me from the house to the office and back as I sit for 1/8th of my day in traffic every day. I rarely let my traveling socks out of the car until they are done and replaced with a new traveling sock (for the record, I'm on my 4th pair and I only learned to knit a few years ago - yes - traffic seriously sux where I live). Still, it made sense to take it with me this time since it's small, and 100% stockinette stitch, so I wouldn't need to carry a pattern in my pack.

The other advantage to taking the traveling sock is that the fiber is a superwash-very important when there is the risk of hiking in a downpour, as we did this weekend.

The first day was nice. Just crisp enough to keep us cool, without being so cold that we were uncomfortable. No rain fell on us, as we had just missed it. However, since it has been falling persistently for several weeks now, the ground was completely drenched. As we slogged up what was supposed to be our trail, but more closely resembled a creek bed, I remember thinking "Boy, I'm sure glad we're hiking a loop so we don't have to come back this way!" At that point, the rain gods threw back their heads, and sat down to plot tomorrows weather while laughing maliciously at their evil machinations.

The rains had not only soaked the grounds, but they had swollen the river (in West Virginia they call it a Otter Creek, but let me assure you...no where, NO WHERE in Texas would this thing ever be called a creek) we were supposed to ford across. It was too high and too fast for us to make it across, so we ended up retracing our steps and returning to a camp site we had passed earlier, with the cold hard reality of having to retrace our entire route on the hike back to our cars come morning.

But for now, why focus on that, right? Instead I focused on my wine - which, I have to tell you, was pretty darn tasty. And considering I was drinking from a piece of very old tupperware, that's really saying something.

I've failed to mention that I went on this trip with Washington Women Outdoors (WWO), and they had pitched it as "Gourmet Backpacking". And they didn't disappoint. For dinner, we had burritos with beans, rice, cilantro, cumin, avocado and grilled onions, garlic and peppers. For dessert we had baked apples stuffed with oatmeal, cinnamon and raisins. For breakfast, we had crepes filled with banana, nutella and peanut butter. No kidding, it was really great food. Our trip leader was a super-hero with powers that enabled her to start fires from wet wood. I admit to being amazed, not just with that, but with how good everything tasted.

About midnight, the rain began to fall. And fall. And fall. It's really saying something when breakfast tastes good even when you're eating it in the rain. We struck camp around 8AM and hit the trail. There's only so much wet-weather gear and gore-tex boots can protect against, and mine failed around 2/3 of the way in, but we made some seriously good time. Nothing like a torrential downpour to hasten your steps. For those of you reading this and thinking "it wasn't raining that hard..." - Hey! It's my blog, and my story.

Rain or not, it was a pretty hike, with good people and good food and I'm sure after I can feel all my extremities, I'll be ready to hit the trail again.